Diaries

I'm back for another season. I figure if Brian can write 41,000+ words before a single game is played, the least I can do is give you the link to the boxscore and my casual fan's take on the game. It's been a long off-season. I coached my son's 3rd and 4th grade basketball team to a perfect 16-0 record; it helped having the Trey Burke of 4th graders on my team. My son was more like Jordan Morgan. He set a lot of screens. As a result, I was asked to coach one of the all-star teams. We went 2-7, derailing my dreams of someday replacing John Beilein. I did get to see lovely downtown 29 Palms, including both major intersections, and coach at UCSB's Thunderdome. Then, this summer, true blue Michigan Man, ST2, passed away from cancer. I will be sprinkling in some M-related anecdotes this season in tribute. See the last section as an example. But enough about me and my relations, on to the link.

Burst of Impetus
* The tone was set early on when true freshman, Dymonte Thomas, blocked a punt with his abs and 5th year senior Joe Reynolds scooped it up and ran it in for the first of many TDs. OK, be honest, who had Joe Reynolds in the "first player to score a TD" pool? Anybody? This site has an obsession with "prison abs". A site search turned up 104 hits for the term. In my opinion, punt-block abs >>> prison abs. The funny thing was, after hearing all about Dymonte Thomas during last season, the recruiting season, spring practice, the off-season, and fall camp, I saw #25 jogging off the field after the punt block and thought, "Thomas who?"

Captain Morgan's Crew
* The past couple seasons, I thought that Desmond Morgan wasn't quite there yet. He was missing a little something (experience, size, outright thumping ability?) that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Well, the first impression from this season suggests he's ready to be the Mike, and all that entails. JR III got a lot of hype this off-season, but I'm here to tell you that Desmond Morgan is the man. He led the defense with 7 tackles in limited playing time.
* 24 players recorded a tackle, and three more made the defensive stats section. The defensive stats has columns for solo tackles, assisted tackles and total tackles. It's the next 8 columns that I look through. They are what a basketball coach might call the hustle stats. There were lots of extras this week.
* Eight players recorded nine TFLs, led by Cam Gordon's 2.5 for 11 yards (2 were sacks). Cam also had a pass breakup. Beyer and Ojemudia also got sacks. Last year, Beyer looked like a lineman trying to play linebacker. He looks leaner and quicker this year, in other words, he looks the part. Could he be the breakout player this year on defense?
* Josh Furman had 5 tackles, and I thought he showed his incredible speed on a few plays. Yes, he made some tackles down the field, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he busted the play. It could mean he did his job and covered up for someone else who missed an assignment. Missing Kovacs and Gordon could have spelled DOOM, but I thought Wilson and Furman did OK. It will be good to get Gordon back next week.

Master of Social Work
* During the game, the B1G announcers pointed out that Devin Gardner has already graduated and is now pursuing a Master's of Social Work degree. ST2's greatest educational experience was his time at UofM pursuing his MSW. /ST3 wipes away a tear.
* Gardner started the game by throwing an interception. The one thing I was looking forward to this post-Denard season was fewer INTs. Oh well, better that occurred in game 1 than game 2.
* After that, Gardner returned to doing his Vince Young impression. I saw Young beat us almost single-handedly in the Rose Bowl, and the best compliment I can give a college QB is to compare him to Young.
* Gardner finished 10-15 for 162 yards, with 1 TD passing.
* Devin also ran for 52 yards on 7 carries. His 7.4 YPA bested Denard's 7.2 of last season. They are two completely different types of runners, but both give you the impression that the defense is playing in quicksand. Denard might take three steps to get five yards, to Devin's two steps, but they both cover the 5 yards in the time it takes for the defense to take one step.
* I'm left-handed. Whenever I see a left-handed QB throw a pass, I think, do I look that strange throwing a ball? Morris had a nice start to his M career, going 4 for 6, with the now required INT.

Joe Reynolds, Deep Threat
* Another show of hands, who thought our deep threat this year was going to be Joe Reynolds? He was one of 8 to catch a pass.

Waffles
* Offensive linemen don't tally stats in the MGoBlue boxscore. They do pave the way for the running attack and hopefully keep the QB clean for the passing game. CMU's defense had 0 QB hurries, and 1 minor 3 yard sack. Bravo, big uglies.
* I tried watching the interior of the line during the game, but that is so hard to do. I'll wait until UFR's to pass judgment, but my initial gut feel says that Glasgow performed better than expected, Kalis played like a freshmen Hutchinson (I don't remember how Hutch played as a freshmen, the point is, Kalis did not play like a senior, All-American linemen, but he held up well) and Miller has some work to do.
* Derrick Green was the leading ballcarrier, thanks to a 30 yard run. He finished with 58 yards on 11 attempts. Touss and Gardner completed the 50/50/50 club, each surpassing 50 yards.
* Overall, we netted 242 yards on 5.1 YPC, and ran for 6 TDs. What does that portend for game 2? Competence, I hope.

Norf and Souf
* Norfleet was everywhere. He was returning kicks, returning punts - some well, some not so well - running end arounds, catching passes, and covering punts. I wouldn't be surprised to see him wearing #98 on Saturday. Wasn't Harmon known for doing everything, including kicking PATs? Don't be surprised to see Norfleet replacing Gibbons before the year is out.

I'm an international umpire
* Another thing I did this summer was to umpire at the Junior International Badminton Tournament at the club. We had kids come from 8 foreign countries and they got stuck with me, a complete novice, calling their matches. That's a roundabout way of saying I'm going to try to be more considerate of the umps this year. The operative word there is "try."
* We were called for 7 penalties for 55 yards. It seemed like double for both figures, but that's what you get in a first game, and that's why you don't schedule Alabama for your first game.

* My Dad had a good friend who worked for the Secretary of State's office in Michigan, many years ago. Those are the guys who are in charge of the license plates. So one day, my Dad asks his friend, "how do you guys assign license plate numbers? and oh, by the way, if '100 BLU' hasn't been assigned yet, do you think you can hold that one for me?" Sure enough, a few weeks go by, and Dad gets his new plates in the mail, opens up the envelope, and there is "100 BLU". Dad worked in state government, knew some politicians, and as a result, knew quite a few state trooopers. So he asks one, "is there any law about marking up a state license plate? like, say, for instance, if I were to put a little sticker on the plate?" The State Trooper tells him it's technically illegal, but as long as it's not offensive, he can probably get away with it. So Dad has a "%" sticker printed up, and places it ever so carefully between the 100 and the BLU. And that is your 100%BLU story for the week.

P.S. Next week I promise, less me and more game coverage. But come on, 59-9, right? Allow me a little leeway.

I was in the process of creating the table below, showing the difference between point spreads and actual scores, when that thread was posted. The table does add a numerical value to the discussion, but not really any huge surprises. Yes, Purdue really crapped the bed against Cincy. Even though Purdue wasn't expected to win (they were the only B1G underdog) the way they lost and by how many points does not bode well for them this season. But, even though they won their games, MSU and OSU also underperformed by quite a bit. Obviously points and point spreads don't tell the whole story, like how monumentally inept MSU's offense looked, and how strong their defense looked.

At the top of the table was Michigan followed by Minnesota, Indiana, and Northwestern. On paper at least, Northwestern's point total against a PAC 12 school was impressive.

Here's the table. Spread 1 is the pre-game spread, Spread 2 is the actual spread based on the score, and the final column is spread 1 minus spread 2.

Team

Opp

Spread 1

Score

Spread 2

Sp1 - Sp2

1. UM

CMU

-31.5

59-9

-50

18.5

2. Minn

UNLV

-13.5

51-23

-28

14.5

3. IU

ISU

-25

73-35

-38

13

4. NW

Cal

-5.5

44-30

-14

8.5

5. Wisc

UMass

-44.5

45-0

-45

0.5

6. PSU

Syr

-8

23-17

-6

-2

7. Iowa

N Ill

-3

27-30 (L)

3

-6

8. Ill

S Ill

-17

42-34

-8

-9

9. OSU

Buff

-34

40-20

-20

-14

10. MSU

WMU

-27.5

26-13

-13

-14.5

11. Pur

Cincy

10

7-42 (L)

35

-25

12. Neb

Wyo

-31

37-34

-3

-28

Edit: My intial amazement at Nebraska's four point spread turns out to have been a misreading of the line on my part (I was looking at the line for the game listed below the Nebraska game). I didn't double check until Farnn showed amazement as well. Fortunately, most posters seem to have ignored this diary so far. I've corrected the table and deleted my ignorant comment about Nebraska. Nebraska sucked in that game, especially for a night game at home against an opponent they should have blown out.

This will be a bit of an abbreviated post because, well, 59-9 tells a pretty compelling story. Sure, I will try to tease out some larger trends from the game, but the biggest takeaway is that UM destroyed a MAC team in the way you expect the winningest program in college football history to do so, and nobody really seemed that surprised. Given the relative struggles the past half-dozen years, that’s the biggest Best I can point out.

Best: The least sexy 59 points you’ll ever see

As Brian noted in his “Five Questions, Five Answers” preview, the Al Borges offense we’re going to see is not the spread that was trotted out under RR and limped along until the end of the Denard era. While I take issue with the “wrong side of history” supposition of this decision, I agree with Brian that Borges’s offense will remain dynamic and creative enough that the ghost of Mike Debord will stay in his comically 90’s room for the foreseeable future.

That’s like, totally your opinion

But 52 points were scored by this offense without much in the way of trickeration or going for 2 points on the first two TDs, you twerp. It was an efficient, dominant performance with wrinkles here and there but also a consistent scheme that was frankly missing during the Transition. As Ace noted there are questions about the line, but Kalis MANBALLED a couple of guys and held up well; I expect Miller to struggle at times but should improve with more reps to at least competent. This offense will undoubtedly struggle at times when teams are able to collapse the inside of the line, and the WRs need to create more separation than they did today, but overall it felt like the type of performance one expected from this unit. It should be the best in the conference unless OSU figures out how to block people, and even then I think the plethora of backs and TEs will continue to keep Devin reasonably clean and away from too many hits running the ball.

Best: Who needs redshirts?

The usual suspects played – Morris, Smith, and Green on offense; Charlton and Thomas on defense. Not unexpected burning men like Gedeon, Butt, and Stribling also suited up, and while I’m a little annoyed if Gedeon only plays on special teams this year, you have to think the coaches like what he brings on defense to push him into a more prominent role. Lewis is a bit of a head scratcher, but Norfleet had some troubles early on with returns and Lewis is a shifty guy in space. But overall, I’m not a fan of redshirting except when the guy in question really wouldn’t help you (i.e. most linemen, small-ish WRs, anybody in the secondary unless they are unbelievable), and basically everyone who played acquitted himself well enough to warrant more playing time in some capacity.

So yeah, the defense looked REALLY fast out there. Thomas on the punt block practically yanked the ball out of the punter’s hands, and throughout the game CMU players were hit as soon as they touched the ball. Early on it seemed like Countess was playing off the WRs too much, but then every time the ball was sent their way he stuck the receiver almost immediately. Other than one or two plays toward the end, the secondary kept everyone in front of them and rarely did you see much separation. Under Hoke, it sometimes felt like Mattison and co. had to gameplan teams into spots to compensate for a lack of athleticism at certain positions; at least after today it looks like those limitations are disappearing quickly. It isn’t quite LSU/Alabama speedsters out there quite yet, but this is another check in the “good recruiting” checklist for this staff.

Worst: We can’t have nice things

Listen, I’m as neurotic and cynical as the next guy when it comes to sports, but at some point it just gets old. I will admit to being a bit down about the early play calling and will remain a Borges questioner until such time as I learn how college offenses work, but at some point the liveblog became one big bit*hing session+ once it was clear UM was going to run away with the game. All of a sudden you have people questioning Derrick Green’s ability to run through contact, Frank Clark’s inability to get to the QB (I will admit to being in this group initially), and every non-TD run or non-intercepted completion as proof that some component of the team wasn’t “working” or was a point of concern. The hive mind of the liveblogs can adopt misguided stances and I get that it shouldn’t be taken seriously, but the team just scored 59 points against a bowl team, held them to a couple of field goal attempts with 3(!) of 14 drives longer than 30 yards, and averaged 5.1 yards per carry and 10.5 yards per attempt. They played pretty well folks; let’s enjoy the win for at least a day before we all try to Gladwell our way through trends from one game.

+ I never understand *’ing out the vowel in a cuss word. I think we all know that “f*ck” doesn’t refer to one-time Tiger’s first basemen Robert Fick, yet everyone apparently thinks removing the ‘i’ in sh*t is going to throw everyone off the scent. Either blot out the whole word or leave it alone. /HOTSPORTSTAKE

Best: NORFLEET!!

Had 106 yards on 4 returns, and was a couple of broken tackles away from housing at least 1 of those returns. He also recorded 38 yards on his one run, and overall looked like a dynamic component of the offense. He’ll never be an every-down back and I doubt he’ll reach the heights of Breaston (who seemingly was both faster a bit more elusive in small spaces), but he gives this team a legitimate return man for the first time since, I don’t know, McGuffie, and the type of guy who can take those once-a-game Ronald Bellomy WR runs and make them work because the other team can’t immediately assume that’s why he’s on the field.

Worst: Out of Nowhere!

Fair warning: this section is going to be one big wrestling analogy. Since I was around 6 years old, I’ve been a huge fan of professional wrestling. I watch it on television, Hulu, and Youtube every chance I can. I once rented every Wrestlemania (9 of them at the time) and watched them straight, without blinking, and probably lost a gallon of water with the drool that fell from my mouth. I loved Jake Roberts and Damien so much I cried when Earthquake “squished” him during their feud. I was a little Hulkster, then a member of the Warrior nation, followed by a heartbroken Rocker fan (seeing Shawn kick Marty Jannetty and throw him through the barbershop window taught me to never trust anyone in a leather jacket). I was a fan of the Dangerous Alliance and marked out so hard when Stunning Steve became Stone Cold and ushered in the Attitude Era along with DX, the Rock and Sock Connection, Kurt Angle, and washed-up MMA guys like Tank Abbott and Ken Shamrock. Hogan creating the NWO with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall set the world on fire for a bit, and Goldberg speared anyone with a pulse into next Tuesday. TLC wasn’t a way to treat a lady or a TV channel with weird shows about future diabetes sufferers; it was a brutal contest with enough splintered tables and broken limbs to remind you how fragile the human body is. Innovators like Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio showed you little guys could rise to the top, and Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit shed the “Vanilla Midgets” label to become champions even though their careers ended suddenly (and in Benoit’s case, horribly). Even with the relatively fallow period that followed Brock Lesnar’s departure to NFL training camps and, ultimately, the UFC, I still enjoyed watching Batista, JBL, Orton, John Cena, and the rest soldier on. And with the ascension of “Indy” guys likes CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, plus the healthy growth of the development system and the indy feds like ROH, PWG, CZW, and the like, it is a good time to be a fan.

Over this time, I’ve seen the medium evolve and grow, and mostly for the better. Guys train harder and take better care of their bodies, match quality is higher, and storytelling has evolved to the point where majorsports blogs have writers dedicated to covering it. It isn’t necessarily still real to me, but I definitely see it maintaining a place in my sports life going forward.

One change I have noticed over the years, though, is the proliferation of “spontaneous” in-ring moments and moves that you just didn’t see back in the 80’s and early 90’s. It used to be when a guy was going to hit his “finisher”, he had some setup – Hogan gave you the big boot before running the ropes and dropping the leg; Ric Flair gave you the knee breaker and then actually had to lock in the figure-four; and even “quick hitters” like the Ultimate Warrior and Shawn Michaels still had some setup before they finished you off with their splash or superkick. But around the time Austin hit the scene, guys started in with the reversals and the quick finishers; Stunners to everyone, Diamond Cutters off chokeslams, Tombstones off cross bodies and Sweet Chin Musics off jumping attacks. Now every move was “out of nowhere”, culminating in Randy Orton RKO’ing literally everybody off ever-more convoluted triple-lindys. As Brandon Stroud of With Leather always laments, guys just need to stop jumping around Orton and they’ll win all the time.

So what’s my point? Well, one of the things that has changed about following college sports is that because of the multitude of mediums covering the games, you really aren’t “surprised” by anything before the teams step on the field. Sure, Gordon being suspended for the first game was relatively unknown, but even then there was a board post on the topic two hours before the game. I knew the vast majority of the depth chart weeks before it was released, heard the insider buzz about certain players stepping up while others floundered, and even knew the basic structure of the offense and defense, including quite a few wrinkles, despite the best attempts by the Fort to keep them under wraps. On one hand it makes fandom more engrossing and “fun” because my knowledge is more thorough and nuanced, but the “Christmas morning” feel of watching the team line up that first game is lost a bit when you’ve already read about the N64 and Easy-Bake oven in the nondescript box three weeks ago. And with all that information, expectations can explode to unreasonable levels; witness the post above with people complaining about the young running backs.

The inexorable march of progress is such that we’ll only get more insider information and in-depth analyses of players and recruits, and on the whole that is a positive for both fans and the game. To be a well-rounded fan, you need to read and keep up on your teams to an almost-unhealthy degree; otherwise you are basically Skip Bayless or Lou Holtz without the clothing budget. About the only time you can ever be surprised anymore is when you….

Best: Play the Game

For despite all of the predictions and charts, the acronyms and the tomes written about the game, nobody knows will happen during the game until the teams actually line up. Fitz looked great out there, making cuts and accelerating through holes opened up be a much-improved offensive line. Devin looked shaky earlier but played well in the end, accounting for over 200 yards in about 2.5 quarters of work. Morris, Green, and Smith all had their turns out there and showed promise. the depth on defense, previously a figment of the fevered imagination of our benevolent overlord, showed up in spades. Countess looked like the corner everyone expected last year before he was hurt, while Thomas, Wilson, Stribling, Morgan, Ross, and Gordon all stepped into more prominent roles and played well (I recognize Wilson blew at least one assignment). Even guys like Clark, whom I’m more down on than others, played reasonably well. I know it’s one game, but it was nice to be surprised by guys actually playing football in a game that mattered.

Worst: Big Ten!

Oh where to start. MSU struggled to move the ball against the other, other directional school last night, and no amount of BTN spit-shining will change that. As noted earlier, OSU went for 2 twice because (a) Meyer wanted to make a point, and (b) that point is that he is a *ick. And even with all of that early success, a 4-8 Buffalo team was touch-and-go with the #2 team in the country, at home, for most of the game. Illinois looked competent against Southern Illinois but still only won by 8, Cincy pounded Purdue by 35 as perennial Most Awesome Name candidate Munchie Legaux stood tall in the pocket. PSU held on against Syracuse but looked like it will be years until the effects of those sanctions allow them to regain their stronger position in the conference, and Wiscy ran over UMass like they always do against overmatched squads who are lactose intolerant. At least they can run the ball with James White. Oh yeah, and Iowa lost to NIU because of course they would. At time of this post teams like NW and Nebraska are still playing, but I doubt we’ll learn much about either team win or lose (though if they lose to Wyoming and/or Cal, I’m going to book my tickets for Indy tomorrow).

But overall, it was not a banner weekend for the conference. The Big 10 isn’t great at football outside of the top couple of teams; that’s been an annoying reality for a couple of years now. The conference isn’t dying or falling behind anyone not named the SEC, but the Big 2, Little 10 mantra is gaining traction every day, and I’m not seeing much evidence down the pipeline that it will change any time soon.

It's finally here! Welcome back Michigan football! A cold front pushed south across Michigan overnight, and will linger just south of the state line. This will cause some cloud cover across the area this morning, turn into a mix of sun and clouds for the afternoon, and also keep the slight chance of rain in the forecast. It'll be hot and humid - great day to show off this year's t-shirt!

Tailgating

Cloudy & mostly cloudy skies for our first 2013 Saturday morning with a chance of a passing rain shower. And mild temps to start the day! We're looking at about 70 degrees through mid-morning with a gentle northerly breeze at 8-10mph (small leaves and twigs may blow about). Warming up to the mid 70s for lunchtime and humid - with how often you'll be reaching in for a cold brewski it may not the best day to pick the cooler to sit on!

Kickoff

82 degrees for the start of the game! Heat index has it feeling like low 80s, and it'll be humid. Winds will drop from the morning, staying out of the north but only at 5mph (just enough wind to feel it, some leaves will rustle). We'll have some sun and some clouds, and although there's still the slim (we're talking about 10%) possibility of a few drops falling, almost all models show us to be dry.

Halftime

Still hot and humid for the halftime show! 83 degrees and partly cloudy. As we go throughout the afternoon, it may be football season but we're still hanging on to the last bit of summer - with partly cloudy skies there is a moderate UV level, so those that burn easily may want to swipe on some sunscreen. There is also very little wind by this time. Out of the NNE, expect winds at 3-5mph (you'd barely see ripples on a lake). Our chance of rain does increase a bit towards the end of the game, and although not likely, a passing shower can't be ruled out.

Post-Game

Still near 80 as you walk out those gates to celebrate a win! Keeping a mix of sun and clouds, and just a slight chance of rain (rain and storm chances go up for Sunday). Winds will shift to come out of the NE for the evening, then easterly for the late-night hours. It will remain very light before diminishing, so don't look forward to a cool breeze anytime today! Temperatures will stay in the 70s until 10pm, then drop to 65 for last call. Expect some patchy fog to form at nighttime too. Go Blue!

Christina Burkhart is a meteorologist for NBC/ABC in Traverse City, MI. She grew up in Ann Arbor and associates Saturdays with Michigan football. Go Blue!!

As the long winter that is the college football offseason approaches its merciful conclusion, we pause once again to review the glory of Michigan past before we witness what is sure to be the glory of Michigan future. So enter the TARDIS and join me and The Doctor as we take a look at the year that was….1980.

America enters a new decade as a country suffering, as President Jimmy Carter refers to it, a “crisis of confidence”. Watergate and Vietnam have left the American people disillusioned with their government. The US economy, battered for the better part of the previous decade by recession, inflation, gasoline shortages, and high unemployment has many doubting in the future of the country. Adding insult to injury, the Soviet Union’s brash invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian hostage crisis calls into question America’s position on the world stage. The morale of the country in 1980 is not good.

Enter this guy. Former actor and governor of California, Ronald Reagan, bringing a message of optimism and hope, wins a landslide victory in November to become the 40thPresident of the United States. Reagan’s policies of increased deficit spending and lower taxes help pull the economy out of the doldrums of the 1970’s and sends the American consumer culture into overdrive, a culture that is still strongly imprinted on America to this day.

The countrys’ morale is also given a big boost in 1980 by these guys. The XIIIth Winter Olympic games in Lake Placid, NY open under the specter of a US-lead boycott of the upcoming Summer Games in Moscow in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Rather than lead a boycott of their own, the Soviets attend the US-hosted games determined to humiliate the Americans on their home soil. The event the Soviets are most favored to win is the mens hockey tournament, where the Soviet National Team has been widely regarded as the best hockey squad for going on 20 years. The US National Team is a collection of 20 college amateurs lead by Minnesota Head Coach Herb Brooks and is not expected to compete for a medal. The US team surprises many by scrapping its’ way into the medal round only to be faced with a semi-final match-up against the Soviets which nobody believes can be won. In what is now referred to as the Miracle on Ice, the Americans stun the Soviets 4-3 and then go on to win the gold medal by defeating Finland in the final. The US win in hockey sparks a wave of patriotism throughout the country and is widely regarded at the greatest sports upset in history.

Other notable news items of the year is the eruption of Mt St. Helens in Washington state which kills 57 people and causes upwards of $3 billion in property damage. The Voyager 1 space probe has a rendezvous with the planet Saturn, giving humans their first up-close look at the spectacular rings around the planet. The Chrysler Corporation, headed by Lee Iacocca, negotiates a federal loan to avoid bankruptcy. Consumer products like Post-It Notes, the Rubiks Cube, and the video game Pac-Man appear. And the Information Age gets somewhat of a start with the development of the telephone modem and the launch of CNN, which will ultimately lead to the 24 hour news cycle and the ubiquitous presence of the media in everyday life.

In the sporting world, 1980 is a banner year for Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania professional teams are represented in every major sporting championship contest in 1980. The Pittsburgh Steelers, lead by future Hall of Fame quarterback and NutriSystem pitchman Terry Bradshaw, win their 4thSuper Bowl championship by defeating the LA Rams 31-19 in Super Bowl XIV. On the ice, the Philadelphia Flyers fall to the New York Islanders in 6 games of the Stanley Cup Finals. On the hardwood, the 76ers featuring the legendary Julius Erving lose the NBA Championship in 6 games to the LA Lakers and a rookie Magic Johnson. The Commonwealth is redeemed by the end of the year when the Mike Schmidt leads the Philadelphia Phillies to a World Series title, defeating the Kansas City Royals in 6 games (this is not a typo, KC was at one time very good at baseball).

In the entertainment world, people watch “Dallas” by the millions and everyone becomes obsessed with the question of , “Who shot JR?”. Other popular television programming includes “Three’s Company”, “Little House on the Prairie”, “The Love Boat”, and “The Dukes of Hazzard”. On the big screen, we flock to see “The Empire Strikes Back” and learn that {SPOILER ALERT} Darth Vader is Luke’s father. Nobody flocks to see “Heaven’s Gate”, which winds up bankrupting United Artists; and we are all blessed with some of the great comedic releases of all time in “Caddyshack”, “Airplane!”, and “The Blues Brothers”.

On the radio we are enjoying the post-disco sounds of Blondie and Kool and the Gang. We rock out to power bands such as Queen and AC/DC, who release their classic album “Back In Black”. The rumblings of a second British invasion are also starting to be felt in New Wave bands such as Devo, The Talking Heads, and David Bowie. Sadly, the music and entertainment world are dealt a stunning blow late in the year with the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman.

Meanwhile, in Ann Arbor, morale is high. Michigan Football is entering its second century of existence and head coach Bo Schembechler only a year removed from having won the Ten Year War against his nemesis Woody Hayes, sits atop the conference as the master of the Big Ten. Team 101 is one of Coach Schembechler’s most talent-laden squads featuring All –Americans George Lilja and Anthony Carter as well as future All-Americans Bubba Paris, Kurt Becker, Ed Muransky, Butch Woolfolk, and…..Anthony Carter. The Wolverines, coming off a lackluster 8-4 record the previous season begin the season ranked 12thin the country only to fall to 1-2 and out of the polls early in the season with heartbreaking losses to Notre Dame and South Carolina by a grand total of 5 points.

Once conference play is underway though, Michigan finds its legs and rolls through opponents by massive margins including three straight shutouts of Indiana, Wisconsin, and Purdue to set up another showdown with Ohio in Columbus. The 10thranked Wolverines face off against 2ndyear coach Earle Bruce and the 5thranked Buckeyes with the conference and Rose Bowl hanging in the balance. Michigan grinds out a 9-3 victory earning Schembechler his 9thBig 10 title and 6thRose Bowl appearance.

Leading up to Rose Bowl contest against Pac-10 Champion Washington, the primary focus of the media was on Schembechler’s bowl record, which included 5 losses in Pasadena and a loss in the Orange Bowl and Gator Bowl. Inspired to break the streak, Michigan plays an inspired 2ndhalf, lead by Rose Bowl MVP Butch Woolfolk’s 182 rushing yards to crush the Huskies 23-6 and earn Schembechler his first Rose Bowl Championship and Michigan’s first since 1965. The 1980 Wolverines finished the season 10-2 and ranked 4thin the country and would be the pre-season Number One team the following season.

The 1980’s saw America emerge from the tumultuous 70’s to a new age of prosperity and affluence. A parallel that can be drawn to the 1980 Michigan team that entered the season extremely talented but with low expectations coming off a lackluster season previously. Has a familiar ring to it, doesn’t it? As Team 134 embarks on the 2ndthird of Michigan Football’s 2ndcentury, we all wait expectantly to see if this is the year where Brady Hoke and his team of highly touted recruits finally takes hold and leads Michigan back to where it hasn’t been for 9 years, the Big Ten Championship and the Rose Bowl. Hope you all enjoyed this stroll through the past and we’ll see you all after the conclusion of the season in 2014. Go Blue!

More than two months have passed since I last updated this (as I was devoting all my football-musing time to my preview, which you should check out if you missed it, forgot about it, or otherwise haven’t yet). Obviously in that amount of time there has been a ton of action everywhere. Well, everywhere but UNLV. Nobody wants to attend UNLV, and UNLV should be ashamed. Anyway, let’s get to it.

Appalachian State loads up on offense, adding ATH A.J. Howard, DE Alanmichael Harkness, QBs J.P. Caruso and Emiere Scaife, OTs Chandler Green and Tobias Edge-Campbell, WRs Rashad Canty and Deltron Hopkins, and TE Brandon Walton. Also joining the class is OLB Devan Stringer. And okay, maybe ESPN does assign 2-star ratings, but only to FCS recruits. A.J. Wells rated 2-stars by 247. Scout only has four of Appalachian State’s commits in its database (Wells, Stout, Scaife, and Canty).

Hawaii (2016) 9 commits, overall star average: 2.14

Scout

Rivals

ESPN

247

Avg.

Daniel Lewis

New Iberia, LA

CB

3

2

NR

3

2.5

Manly Williams

Honolulu, HI

OLB

3

NR

NR

2

2.25

Larry Tuileta

Honolulu, HI

QB

2

2

3

2

2.25

Fitou Fishiiahi

Honolulu, HI

MLB

2

NR

NR

2

2.0

Sully Wiefels

Sacramento, CA

OL

NR

3

NR

NR

2.25

Sammy Lauaki

Los Angeles, CA

OG

2

NR

NR

2

2.0

Dakota Torres

Honolulu, HI

MLB

NR

NR

NR

2

2.0

Micah Kapoi

Kapolei, HI

OT

2

NR

NR

2

2.0

Ka’au Gifford

Honolulu, HI

DT

2

NR

NR

2

2.0

Hawai’I adds DT Ka’au Gifford and OT Micah Kapoi. Dakota Torres gains a 2-star rating on Scout. Larry Tuileta gains 2-star rating on Rivals. 247 rates all of Hawai’I’s commits at 2 stars except Daniel Lewis. Rivals still shows Sully Wiefels committed to Hawaii; 247 does not include him in the class for some reason. Judging by the number of unranked players across the four services, evaluating high school football talent in Hawai’i looks like a career opportunity for some enterprising island dude (or dudette).

Miami, OH (2014) 6 commits, overall star average: 2.0

Scout

Rivals

ESPN

247

Avg.

Mack Duffin

Avon, IN

DE

2

NR

NR

2

2.0

Trey Knes

Chesterfield, MO

OLB

2

NR

NR

2

2.0

Mitchell Palmer

St. Louis, MO

C

2

NR

NR

2

2.0

Kellen Snider

Fort White, FL

MLB

2

NR

NR

2

2.0

Isaac Little

Bluffton, OH

OLB

2

2

NR

2

2.0

Wilbert Vails, Jr.

St. Louis, MO

ATH

2

NR

NR

NR

2.0

The REDHAWKS add MLB Kellen Snider, C Mitchell Palmer, and ATH Wilbert Vails, Jr. Trey Knes rated 2-stars by Scout and 247. Mack Duffin also rated as a 2-star by 247. Nobody really knows how many commitments the Redhawls have Rivals shows only two commitments (Trey Knes and Isaac Little), ESPN shows three (Duffin, Knes, and Snider), and 247 and Scout show five commitments (everyone but Little).